METAIRIE, La. – Dumping Akiem Hicks is a shame. A letdown. A major failure on someone’s part.
I don’t know exactly where the blame lies. On Hicks for wasting his massive potential. On the New Orleans Saints' coaches for failing to develop his rare physical talents. On the front office for not having enough patience or for not getting more in return than a solid but unspectacular tight end in New England Patriots veteran Michael Hoomanawanui.
Probably some combination of all of the above.
Don’t get me wrong. Hicks wasn’t playing particularly well the last two weeks – or the last two years, for that matter. And the production the Saints were actually getting out of him won’t be missed too much since he was already demoted behind undrafted rookie Bobby Richardson in the base defense.
But the trade is a shame and a letdown and a failure because Hicks once had such immense potential to become a core player for this defense.
I know I failed in each of the past two years when I kept predicting great things from Hicks. Heading into 2014, I touted him as a breakout candidate. Heading into 2015, I touted him as a bounce-back candidate and one of the top reasons to be optimistic.
Hicks has always had an awesome amount of power – something that would stand out in training camp drills. It also stood out during the 2013 season when he was disrupting the pocket and helping to force quarterbacks into the path of edge rushers Cameron Jordan and Junior Galette. (Hicks had 4.5 sacks that year, while Jordan had 12.5 and Galette had 12.)
But we haven’t seen that disruption over the past two years. Hicks had only two sacks in 2014. He has only two tackles in 2015.
He was replaced midway through the Week 2 loss against Tampa Bay when the Saints opted to go with a smaller, more athletic front. He played only 28 snaps in a Week 3 loss at Carolina.
It’s unclear exactly what went wrong for Hicks. Effort or overconfidence may have played a role in 2014, like it did with so many other young Saints defensive players. But Hicks came into this summer emphasizing “discipline” and saying he had shed 20 pounds. And he looked great on the practice field during training camp.
It just didn’t translate into the season. And now the Saints are 0-3 and giving up on yet another talented young player who should be in his prime as they continue to search for answers.
Though the circumstances were different in each case, this falls in line with the Saints’ decisions to trade tight end Jimmy Graham and release Galette while they've overhauled nearly half of the 53-man roster from last year.
Maybe all three of those moves will pan out (Graham brought a lot of value in return; Galette had to go because of off-field issues; Hoomanawanui brings depth at a position of need and another good veteran presence in the locker room).
But not long ago, the Saints expected great things out of all of those players. And letting them go is a sign of how things have failed to work out.
